JOHN 9:30-38 – The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out. Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

THEME OF THE DAY. LOST AND FOUND. Today’s scripture is the heart-warming conclusion of a riveting account in John’s gospel of a man born blind, given sight by the Lord, endured heavy persecution, and eventually came to have spiritual sight along with physical sight. Take time soon to read it. It is exciting, thrilling, and shows a wonderful truth about the seeking heart of our God. Let’s enter into the scene before Jesus shows up.

The man is confused, hurt, and lonely. He had just literally been tossed out of the synagogue. Shortly before this painful experience, his parents cowardly refused to stick up for him among the religious leaders grilling him about Jesus. What was his crime? His shame? His offense? He told the truth. He simply told everyone what happened to him. A Man, he didn’t even know, did some strange things to him, as well as directing him to do a strange thing. What were they? John records them – Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing (John 9:6-7). How would you feel if a complete stranger spit on the ground, made some mud and then put it on your eyes? Maybe a little resistant at first? But remember, you cannot see so vulnerability is something you are accustomed to. After that initial shock, and the slimy feeling of mud on your face, the Man says, “Go to that pool of water and wash off what I just did to you.” But then something you have never experienced happened! With the mud removed, you are seeing; the mud, the water, everything. You couldn’t wait to get back and tell everyone. And you did, but it wasn’t well received. In fact, it was rebuked and so off to the Pharisees you go to be quizzed. Well, read the story in John 9. It didn’t initially end well for this young man and all he did was tell the truth of what happened to him. That leads us to the glorious ending that did end well.

As the man wanders the streets in a state of confusion, sadness, loneliness, and a host of other painful emotions over what just happened to him, look who finds him – Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him (John 9:35). Oh, what compassion in our Lord! Oh, what love to move Him to seek out a hurting soul! And if we are Christians today, He did the same to us. In today’s scripture, the Lord gave physical sight. In our cases, He found us and gave spiritual sight. Have we thought of this lately? We didn’t come to Christ on our own. We didn’t just decide to be a Christian. And as well-intended as we may be in our words of testimony, “I found the Lord”, the truth is just the opposite, “He found us. He wasn’t lost. We were.” Take time and thank Him for finding us who were in the heap of sin and the devil’s “lost and found” pit. Thank Him for rescuing and removing the spiritual blindness from our hearts and enabling us to believe, just like the man in today’s scripture.

PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for seeking me when I had no desire or ability to seek You.”

QUOTE: “Be careful when we say, ‘I found the Lord.’ He wasn’t lost. We were and to find Him means He first found us.”